Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Bola Ray: 'I started Empire from my car boot'

A fair number of successful people shy away from telling their grass-to-grace story.

But for young broadcaster/entrepreneur Kwabena Anokye Adisi (Bola Ray), the story of how he managed to surmount the odds on his way to the top, is worth sharing.

In the very latest issue of Glitz Africa magazine, he tells the story (among others) of how he started his popular events company Empire.

Bola Ray, as he is widely called tells a very touching narrative of how Empire came into being, and how he refused to be browbeaten into accepting that it couldn’t be done.

In a tell-all, he reveals how Empire started from the boot of a car he owned at the time, and how one question from a client changed and paved the way for what is now one of Ghana’s most revered event houses.

“… i started empire from my car boot in 2005. I used to go on a program known as ‘paradise,’ and we used to go round doing media buyIng for a company known as Burger Foods. so one day i went to Burger and they asked ‘we are doing a TV Program we want you to help with, where is your office? I told them i didn’t have an office, i work from my car boot.

“So it got me thinking, why don’t I set up an events company and organize shows. So I thought about it and told my good friend Ignace of 4Syte. At that time he was at Pig Farm, editing my Paradise TV program. I told him about us getting a better place so we could all work from there.

“So one day I was there when he called and said he had gotten a place at Larterbiokorshie with an office space in front. I grabbed that opportunity and we started off with pool parties. I remember we did Yegoala and Tesano, and everybody was asking why we didn’t go to Conference Centre. But i said no, i have to start small because i didn’t have the money then. So we started small at Yegoala doing pool parties, and then in 2010, we decided to go big by doing ‘Ghana Meets Naija.’ I had told some friends about it but then people laughed at me and said it wasn’t possible, and it was a big dream. Are you sure you’re going to get Naija artistes? This is going to be a one-off project and it will die off after a year or two. But i was so convinced. That is me, when I'm excited about something, i put my all into it.

“So i told a friend called Kevin Kobiri that i really wanted to this project, and he told me he would support, and if i didn’t have the money he could come through with the cash, afterwards i would pay back. So we teamed up and we did ‘Ghana Meets Naija.’ And this year. to the glory of the Lord, it’s the 5th year of ‘Ghana Meets Naija.’

“So that is the dream, from paper to reality. From there we moved on to the Malta Street Dance. We’ve done stuff for Smirnoff, Bel Aqua, MTN, and a whole lot more.

“… I also want to thank my partner Collins Asianoa.”

A celebrated young achiever, he is currently CEO of EIB Network, a media group that owns over a dozen on-air, online and print media properties across Ghana.

A multiple award winner, he won the Radio Personality of the year and Celebrity of the Year at the GN Bank Awards (People’s Choice Awards held this year.

He is currently ranked Ghana’s 4th Most Influential Person according to a poll by local television network E.tv.

The Emperor’s Family appears in the April (The Relationship issue) edition of GLITZ Africa.